Run lifts Lexington past GSW

There are many reasons to use a timeout during the course of a basketball game. Lexington girls’ head coach Jonathan Williams burned one in the third quarter to give his team a breather.

It worked as the refreshed Minutemen came out of the break and got a stop. Lexington then tallied the game’s next 15 points to propel it to a 48-40 win over Gardner-South Wilmington in Lexington Classic tournament play Thursday.

“The press was bothering us some and we were getting tired so I called a timeout so they could catch their breath and go over a few things, a couple of mental things,” Williams said.

Lexington had a 10-point lead at the intermission but the Panthers were able to chip away at the deficit in the first half of the third quarter with an effective press. A turnover by the Minutemen led to a basket from Breann Fisher with 5:07 to go in the period. It made it a 26-24 game.

The Minutemen turned the ball over again and Williams called timeout.

LHS got a stop and then scored its first points of the second half when Erica Davis connected with a shirt turnaround jumper in the paint with 4:32 to go.

Davis’ basket started a 15-0 run over the next four minutes that pushed the Minutemen to a 41-24 advantage. Davis had seven points in the run.

The Panthers still had some life, which was demonstrated by a rally influenced by their press in the fourth quarter. Fisher scored on a put-back and Chelsea Schultz hit a 3-pointer to cut Lexington’s lead to 45-40 with 2:13 remaining in the game.

Williams did a bit more coaching with a timeout with 1:32 on the clock. Davis had scored on a put-back that snapped a 7-0 GSW run. The basket was off a missed 3-point shot from freshman Gabby Freed.

Fisher scored the first two points of the game, giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead. The Minutemen came back with two hoops each from Tessa Walcott and Allie Vollmer to take an 8-2 lead midway through the first quarter.

It was the first of three keys runs for the Minutemen on the night. The second came after GSW had pulled even at 10-10 with lay-in from ReAnn Scoggins. It started with a 3-pointer from Freed just before time ran out in the stanza.

With Freed’s triple, Lexington went on an 11-2 run. LHS outscored the Panthers 11-4 in the second quarter for a 24-14 halftime lead.

Walcott led the Lexington (2-0) scoring with 16 points. She also had 4 assists and 4 blocks. Davis added 11 points and 9 rebounds while Freed threw in 11 points. Vollmer checked in with 6 points and 11 boards while Kelly Carmack scored 4 points.

Page 2 of 2 - “It’s a balanced approach right now. It’s not planned but that’s how it’s working out,” Williams said of his team’s balanced scoring. “It’s the thing we’re going to need.”

Lexi Posing had 14 points to lead a trio of Panthers in double figures. Fisher added 12 points and Schultz had 10.

If there was one thing Williams is looking to improve from this game as the Minutemen take aim at a second consecutive Classic title, it is the defense.

“It was good in spurts, but I wasn’t satisfied with our man-to-man defense,” Williams said. “It could have been better.”

Lexington will next take on Roanoke-Benson tonight and then face Dee-Mack on Tuesday.

Other Games

Paige Jones scored 25 points in leading Ridgeview to a 39-23 win over Heart of Illinois Conference rival Dee-Mack. The Mustangs outscored the Chiefs 22-12 in the middle two periods to take control.

Ridgeview (2-0) will meet Peoria Heights tonight and take on Roanoke-Benson on Tuesday.